These days, if you want to watch a motorsport film, documentary or TV series, you're not at a loss of what to watch.
Drive to Survive is obviously the big one, but there's a plethora of other motorsport media to enjoy. 'Rush', the story of the 1976 F1 world championship battle between Niki Lauda and James Hunt, came out over 10 years ago and is still one of the best motorsport films.
The 'F1' movie, with Brad Pitt playing an aged racing driver returning to F1, will be released this summer. And there's absolutely tons of documentaries to watch, from subjects ranging from F1, sportscars, Indycar, NASCAR, you name it.
Tim Fullbrook
But, why do we have such a choice? Well, I'll tell you: it's down to a single documentary, released in 2009.
It was called Truth in 24, and it focused on the story of Audi's win at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2008.
Back in 2008, Audi were coming off the back of a very successful run at Le Mans, with seven wins in eight years. Most of these had been taken with the R8 — not the road car, but the 'original' R8, a sportscar prototype which itself revolutionised endurance racing in the early 2000s.
But in 2006 Audi introduced the R10, a new prototype with a headline feature: a diesel V10 engine. These days, diesel has gone out of fashion thanks to dieselgate,. but in the mid 2000s it was all the rage.
A diesel-powered car had never won Le Mans, but Audi believed it was possible. And so it was, winning at the first attempt in 2006. It won again in 2007, but 2008 was a different story: the R10 was now three years old and Peugeot, Audi's main competition at the time, had a new diesel prototype of their own, the 908 HDi FAP.
Truth in 24 is the story of how Audi beat Peugeot at Le Mans and made the R10 a legend.
Anyway, back to the documentary. It was broadcast on ESPN in the United States, on March 20th (so almost 16 years ago, to the day), a day prior to that year's 12 Hours of Sebring. Contemporary reviews at the time heralded it as 'one of the best racing films of all time', according to Autoblog.
It was later made available for free on iTunes after that year's race at Sebring. And now it's on YouTube for anyone to watch.
A slew of motorsport documentaries, films and movies followed Truth in 24. Senna, Asif Kapadia's documentary about three-time F1 world champion Ayrton Senna, followed in 2010. Rush followed in 2013, as did other lower-profile creations such as Journey to Le Mans, JOTA Sport's documentary about racing at Le Mans in 2014.
The Ford vs Ferrari (also known as Le Mans '66) film hit screens in 2019, and the documentaries on the Williams and McLaren founders, Sir Frank Williams and Bruce McLaren, released in 2017.
A Truth in 24 sequel also followed in 2012, titled Truth in 24 II: Every Second Counts, focusing on Audi at the 2011 edition of Le Mans.
And, in 2019, Netflix's TV series on F1, Drive to Survive, released, which has been credited with the worldwide growth of F1 since. Later this year Brad Pitt's F1 film will be released in cinemas globally as well.
Would all this have happened if it wasn't for Truth in 24? Maybe, maybe not — it's obviously impossible to say. Maybe Liberty Media would still have bought F1 and commissioned Drive to Survive regardless.
But my own belief is Truth in 24 played a big part in showcasing the phenomenal stories and narratives that take place in motorsport every single year, and made TV or film producers sit up and take notice of motorsport as a potential source for content.
Personally, it nurtured my interest in endurance racing, and led me to where I am today. Both Truth in 24 and its sequel are must-watches, not just for fans of endurance racing, but fans of motorsport in general.
Feature image: Audi
